Summary Box: German court limits euro panel power

LIMITS ON POWER: Germany's highest court limited the powers of a special parliamentary panel set up to make quick decisions on using the eurozone rescue fund.

BOND PURCHASES ONLY: The Federal Constitutional Court said the committee could decide on purchases of government bonds on the secondary market, where bonds are traded after they are issued. The bailout funds could make such purchases to help keep indebted eurozone countries' borrowing rates down.

NEVER STARTED WORK: The nine-member, cross-party panel, whose members were drawn from Parliament's larger 41-member budget committee, never started work because the court issued an injunction blocking it last October,